Kenya Airways Plc said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will result in airlines increasing ticket prices after crude oil surged, while uncertainty may reduce demand for travel.
“We have started seeing many of the airlines taking action on this to ensure that they are able to keep on flying,” Commercial Director Julius Thairu said in an interview.
The war could lead to a fresh crisis for aviation just as the industry looks to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. Airspace bans have already severely curtailed the level of flying between Russia, Ukraine and other countries, while financial sanctions imposed by a number of nations are making it harder to conduct business in Russia.
Kenya Airways projects its revenue will climb by more than 50% this year, barring the emergence of a disruptive coronavirus variant and potential jitters around the East African nation’s elections scheduled for August 9, Thairu said.
“In the last couple of months we have been slowly restoring our network, aligned with passenger demand,” Thairu said. “We have now restored more than 90% of our network, we are flying to 42 destinations and 35 of those destinations are in Africa.”
The airline, in which the Kenyan government has a 48.9% stake, suspended seven routes in 2020 in a bid to preserve cash. KQ, as the carrier is also known, is flying at about 60% of pre-pandemic levels and expects to reach as much as 65% this year, Thairu said.
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